Grass Roots America Understands and Has Spoken!

Revolution is Brewing by Chris Muir

“..Grassroots American Understands You Can’t Simply Spend Yourself into Prosperity…the Average American is Totally Disapproving of What’s Going on out There….Within the Beltway they Really Believe that Spending is the Right Thing to Do…that the Only Reason Roosevelt didn’t End the Great Depression was that He Didn’t Spend Enough..and Now They are Trying so Desperately to Spend so Much So Quickly!”

Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD 6th) at a Tea Party in the rain; Frederick MD April 15, 2009

Story and Video from Frederick News-Post

frederick-md-tea-party (audio)

Credit: Bill Green Frederick MD News Post

The Middletown Press had good coverage of the Hartford Tea Party: (excerpt)

…Durham resident Jay Berardino, a member of the Board of Finance and the chairman of the Republican town committee, said he joined the thousands of tea-party protestors because “there is a limit” to taxation and government spending.

“There’s enormous government waste on the state level,” he said. “Elected officials — and I’m talking about the Democratically-controlled House and Senate — are out of touch with the average citizen. They live in a bubble, and this [tea party] is a way to burst it.”

As a taxpayer, Berardino said he opposes potential increases in sales, income and gas taxes; as a finance board member, he seeks relief from unfunded state mandates that burden towns like Durham.

Hartford Rally: Middletown Press Photo

There were rallies, large and small, in Hartford, New Haven, Norwich, Greenwich and Shelton (video) and…I’m sure I’ve left some out.

Along the harbor in Norwich, nearly 400 people gathered from 3 to 6 p.m. around the gazebo at Howard T. Brown Memorial Park to listen to speakers, talk among themselves and encourage vehicular traffic to honk in support of various messages scrawled across basic poster-board: “I am not your ATM,” “We’re TEAd off (Taxed Enough Already),” “Give me liberty, not debt.” Many of the signs were adorned with tea bags.

The rally began with Rich Curtis, one of the community organizers, reading a portion of the First Amendment, and 8-year-old Kayleigh Ezzell of Lisbon, there with her grandmother, co-organizer Jen Ezell of Canterbury, leading the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Overall, the rally was docile. There was only one chant – Curtis got the crowd to spell out “no pork.” (from The Day-New London)

Greenwich Rally

Friend Laurel from Virginia reports from D.C.:

Washington D.C. was cold, wet all day. We started talking about the rally on the subway, and others joined in and actually decided to come to the Event! We could hardly hear the speakers, because one woman paid for the sound system herself and could only afford what she could afford…but everyone listened intently, from 11am to 3pm, until we could respond with a resounding voice – in unison with the message. Almost 3,000 people spilled into sidewalks surrounding the Lafayette Park – some even walked over to the White House to spell it out for the NYT press. Many gave out free-bees, like a copy of the Constitution, bumper stickers, and yes, I gave out window clings….the poster signs were great….One fellow had a pic of George Washington, labeled as a terrorist! Everyone was polite within very close quarters. Absolutely no violence…lets keep that way!

Obama claims he wasn’t aware of the Tea Party Events, yet the White House has windows…Nancy Pelosi speaks from her experienced agenda giving credit to millionaires for bringing us out there… and CNN believes that FOX news master-minded it…while HLS labeled us all terrorists…a label now reserved for “tax paying, Christians who believe in working for a living!”

This administration is truly confounded, pointing fingers everywhere and blundering all over each other Their own stories don’t match up… maybe their losing control?

Well, we will see, its a good start, Congrats to all!
This is a grass roots movement because no one is in charge and many are jockeying for position…to be that focal point…I love it!

From the New Haven Register:

The crowd also included about a dozen students who walked to the harbor from Yale University. William Wilson, 22, a senior, said he was there to protest the bank bailout and the federal stimulus plan.

He said the the Yale College Libertarians have a tradition of doing a tax protest every April 15 and the tea party event was a perfect fit. Wilson said he was heartened by the fair number of Libertarians in the crowd, but he questioned some of the sentiments expressed.

“I was a little bit disappointed to see a lot of mainstream Republicans who didn’t complain when Bush was doing this stuff, all of a sudden starting to complain now that Obama is doing it. That was a little bit annoying, sort of felt like they were corrupting our message,” said Wilson.

As for the tea, after it steeped in the sun all day, the bags were removed and the liquid was poured into the harbor, a symbolic reference to the Boston Tea Party.

Much more at Michell Malkin…and at RadioVice Online….And finally a roundup of photos from around the nation; a picture gallery from the Tacoma (WA) News Tribune: